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Dan's avatar

For most of human existence we, like all creatures, have lived in a world where scarcity looms over us, perhaps not in this moment, but will we bump into it around the next bend?

Who will help us when famine, poverty, or illness barge into our lives? Admittedly, I have not studied this, so I'm venturing out on a frozen lake in April here, but I suspect the answer is, those who are closest to us - those who are part of our "community" (however we define it).

There are many situations where banding as a community helps: "We will together guard our flocks of animals and the scarce grazing land from other communities. There is not enough for everyone, so it's us or them!" Charity and support to some, but not others, was part of survival.

It is brutally callous to ask this, but while the un-housed population you mention in your post live in your city, are the part of the "community?" Do they contribute something of value to the rest of the community? If the community cannot see value in having them be part of the community, then it is likely they will be perceived to be "outsiders" and unwelcome.

I'm not sure this is greed; I think it is part of human fabric, woven by the savage realities of evolution in a hostile world.

Perhaps community is shrinking in this day and age, because our survival does not depend on it much anymore. As C.J. points out in his comment, when survival is threatened, we can suddenly come together - community suddenly matters. Does our happiness depend on community? Your post suggests "yes," and I agree.

My view is rather bleak and perhaps raises the question of how then do I explain the actions of some people who step outside of their communities to run soup kitchens, shelters, and out reach programs? Why are they helping those outside their community? I don't yet have a good answer to that, but maybe I will not look too closely because I really want to believe they are expressing another behaviour that, if we are lucky, is inherent in humans. One that may help us live on this increasingly stressed earth together.

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C.J. Adrien's avatar

Great article. It reminds me of something I encountered in a book recently. The name of the sociologist is escaping me at the moment, but the proposition was that humans really only work well together in large groups when faced with a common external threat. Think of the social cohesion of the greatest generation during WW2, and thereafter, contrasted by the individualism of the Baby Boomers and then hyper-individualism of gen X’ers, and so on. If we roll the clock back to pre-civilization, cooperation was fundamental to survival. But now that we’re all fat and comfortable, it’s just not worth the effort in most cases. It appears to be a learned behavior that, removed from its original context, doesn’t make much sense to us, but then again is foundational to our way of life because even though things are comfy now, they’re comfy because people worked together to make it that way. Great food for thought, thanks Terri! 😊

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